BobC Posted October 10, 2010 Share Posted October 10, 2010 Some people look down on the Edwards Formation, but yesterday I had a fantastic time hunting it, and came away with close to 15 broken Goniopygus, and four that are almost completely intact. Actually two are completely intact! These little guys are super hard to come by, and I've only ever found three before in my life, so I really feel like I hit the jackpot! I came across an Edwards outcrop out West, recognized the rudist reef for what it was, and started searching and low and behold I started finding these cool little echinoids! Man--what a day! I am so glad I escaped the grip of my Corporate Masters long enough to go fossil hunting. I also saw a bird that I've never seen before in Texas (Auspex--are you here?), a ring neck pheasant! We had them in upstate NY, we used to hunt them, but I've never seen one in Texas. I did notice there was a "hunting ranch" close by, so I am wondering if the pheasant was an artificial transplant. Despite the fact I had a fantastic day, I did see something sad. A stray dog was by the side of the road, eating the carcass of a dead deer. I stopped and tried to get him to come to me, but he was too scared. Sigh. I love being out in the rural country, but one thing I absolutely hate about it is the number of dumped, starving dogs I come across. Anyway, driving home from out West I came across a Walnut exposure and found probably 10-12 Ceolectypi, but left them there because I am kinda tired of them. Here are pics of the better Gonios. The biggest one is about the size of a quarter, and the smallest is maybe an 1\8th inch wide. Interesting side note: despite the rarity of Gonios, they were the first echinoid I ever found! I only found that one, while hunting with my friend Linda, and she was visibly impressed, telling me it was "special." I gave the Gonio to her, and about an hour later she tried to give it back to me, saying she felt "guilty." I was so completely clueless at the time that I didn't appreciate what I'd found, and I think she felt like she was taking advantage of my inexperience. Fortunately we found another one a bit later, so we both went home with a Gonio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted October 10, 2010 Share Posted October 10, 2010 Good finds Bob....I don't see many of those things myself....and yes the Ked can be worth one's time in certain places, but none of these places seem to be near San Antonio, so I tend to slam on the local outcrops with disdain and disgust. 1 Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 The Ring-necked Pheasant is a widely introduced game bird, native to Eurasia. There are many, many hybrid varieties, and most populations cannot sustain themselves without continued stocking. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobC Posted October 11, 2010 Author Share Posted October 11, 2010 Dan--other than the Gonios you and John found in that quarry, I have only ever found them amongst rudist reefs. There is a big field in Austin that is covered in huge chunks of rudist reefs (I should say "was" because a crazy woman cleaned the place out)and I have found two Gonios in those reef chunks. Other than those, I haven't found any outside that quarry. So now when I find rudist reefs, I am really looking for these cool little guys. Auspex--interesting about the pheasants. They were very, very plentiful in upstate NY when I was a kid. I mean, they would fly up from the hay fields all the time as I walked through on my way to go fishing. Unfortunately, the blizzard of 1977 killed them all off. It was bizarre--they went from being plentiful to being wiped out completely in a one week period. I know people started farming them after that and restocking, but from what I understand they never really caught on again--at least not to the degree they had before. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobC Posted October 11, 2010 Author Share Posted October 11, 2010 Regarding viewing Ked with disdain--I will say this. Chipping anything out of that stuff is a royal pain. That rock is so freaking hard! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roz Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 I would say the Edwards likes ya... Very, very nice finds! I love those echs! Welcome to the forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobC Posted October 11, 2010 Author Share Posted October 11, 2010 Rozzy baby! I love them too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 I've grabbed a few Goniopygus from the Edwards out north of Del Rio, a few from the Glen Rose, and a few rough ones from the Boracho out around Fort Stockton and Kent. Still, any day you get a decent one is a great day even if you find nothing else. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobC Posted October 11, 2010 Author Share Posted October 11, 2010 Dan--I've read online that these guys are found in the Glen Rose--but I have been all over the Glen Rose and never came close to finding one. I assumed they only cropped up in the Edwards! I obviously have more to learn! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 A banner day, Bob! Wow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnJ Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 Kudos stereoman! The larger ones appear to be G. zitelli and the small ones G. budaensis. The human mind has the ability to believe anything is true. - JJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nandomas Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 Nice finds Bob, I really appreciate your report. Dan, I was hunting around Kent, but I didn't find nothing Erosion... will be my epitaph! http://www.paleonature.org/ https://fossilnews.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobC Posted October 11, 2010 Author Share Posted October 11, 2010 Thanks John and Mikey! I have to say it was so much fun finding echinoids that I almost never "catch!" John--are the Zitelli guys the echinoids you and Dan found at the quarry that time? Man they are really beautiful little urchin! Every time I found one my heart started racing! Nerd alert! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncle Siphuncle Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 Yeah I've found G. stocktonensis around Kent and Fort Stockton. As for the Kgr, the most impressive specimens are G. guadaplupensis, and they hail from the Upper Kgr in one zone only as far as I know, but this zone outcrops intermittently for miles - not sure of aerial extent of outcrop though. Additional research required. Grüße, Daniel A. Wöhr aus Südtexas "To the motivated go the spoils." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamalama Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 Very cool echies. Do the rudists come out intact are are they the hard ###### you have to crack around? -Dave __________________________________________________ Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrain. - John McPheeIf I'm going to drive safely, I can't do geology. - John McPheeCheck out my Blog for more fossils I've found: http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamalama Posted October 11, 2010 Share Posted October 11, 2010 Wait, I can't say B-U-G-G-E-R-S ? -Dave __________________________________________________ Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrain. - John McPheeIf I'm going to drive safely, I can't do geology. - John McPheeCheck out my Blog for more fossils I've found: http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobC Posted October 11, 2010 Author Share Posted October 11, 2010 Shammy--that stuff is so hard that it is really, really hard to get the echinoids out. Sometimes you get lucky and they pop right out, other times you get a piece and that's about it. These particular rudists were all crystallized and extremely hard. Fortunately I was so crazed with echinoid greed that my already ape-like strength was multiplied several times over! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwestbrook Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 (edited) Some people look down on the Edwards Formation, but yesterday I had a fantastic time hunting it, and came away with close to 15 broken Goniopygus, and four that are almost completely intact. Actually two are completely intact! These little guys are super hard to come by, and I've only ever found three before in my life, so I really feel like I hit the jackpot! I came across an Edwards outcrop out West, recognized the rudist reef for what it was, and started searching and low and behold I started finding these cool little echinoids! Man--what a day! I am so glad I escaped the grip of my Corporate Masters long enough to go fossil hunting. I also saw a bird that I've never seen before in Texas (Auspex--are you here?), a ring neck pheasant! We had them in upstate NY, we used to hunt them, but I've never seen one in Texas. I did notice there was a "hunting ranch" close by, so I am wondering if the pheasant was an artificial transplant. Despite the fact I had a fantastic day, I did see something sad. A stray dog was by the side of the road, eating the carcass of a dead deer. I stopped and tried to get him to come to me, but he was too scared. Sigh. I love being out in the rural country, but one thing I absolutely hate about it is the number of dumped, starving dogs I come across. Anyway, driving home from out West I came across a Walnut exposure and found probably 10-12 Ceolectypi, but left them there because I am kinda tired of them. Here are pics of the better Gonios. The biggest one is about the size of a quarter, and the smallest is maybe an 1\8th inch wide. Interesting side note: despite the rarity of Gonios, they were the first echinoid I ever found! I only found that one, while hunting with my friend Linda, and she was visibly impressed, telling me it was "special." I gave the Gonio to her, and about an hour later she tried to give it back to me, saying she felt "guilty." I was so completely clueless at the time that I didn't appreciate what I'd found, and I think she felt like she was taking advantage of my inexperience. Fortunately we found another one a bit later, so we both went home with a Gonio. The ring necked pheasants are a transplant from China to the US back in the 1880's I believe, according to an article in one of my Field and Stream magazines. They've been transplanted all over the US. I used to go with a former pastor up south of Lubbock, somewhere. I'm not much of a hunter, though, so I didn't do it more than a couple of times. Edited April 26, 2012 by gwestbrook Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 (edited) Wait, I can't say B-U-G-G-E-R-S ? The verb that begins with bug and ends in ger is pretty rude in all the other English speaking countries. As for the echies pix... it looks ike a sterophoto, but one of them is sideways... is this what I am seeing? I cannot play with images on my computer. If it is a steropair, BobC, can you repost them facing the right way. If not, ignore this... Thanks jpc Edited April 26, 2012 by jpc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 Do you guys realize you're responding to a thread from 2010? In a skydiving forum I post on, that's referred to as "necroposting". Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 Can also be considered a 'revival' of a thread that older members missed, or newer members have more info on. Depends how one looks at it. KOF, Bill. Welcome to the forum, all new members www.ukfossils check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lloyd Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 (edited) Wait, I can't say B-U-G-G-E-R-S ? ROFL... I had the same word censored yesterday and thought the same exact thing.... Had a couple of Ringneck Pheasant in my backyard a couple weeks back. I don't really know how plentiful they are in Pennslyvania, but I've seen quite a few: especially when it's hunting season because all the folks in the woods seems to drive them out to the roadsides. Edit: Well, hahaha, after reading on in the thread I noticed Fossildawg pointing out that Shamalama actually asked his question WAY before I I had the same one. Necroposting? Good term, but I actually like when an interesting old thread is revived if only for a little while. Edited April 26, 2012 by Lloyd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 Do you guys realize you're responding to a thread from 2010? In a skydiving forum I post on, that's referred to as "necroposting". Don "Stirring the pot" can sometimes bring new life, and info, to old topics; the risk is that someone will await a response that may never come. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 Oh absolutely, it's an interesting thread and fun to revive. Just so long as people realize the situation. Maybe we could call it "paleoposting", except that's more-or-less what we do all the time anyway. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossiladdict Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 (edited) Very cool finds. Wished we had more of those in my area- they are hard to find. An old thread? Well, I never saw this thread so it's "new" to me . Edited April 27, 2012 by fossiladdict Fossils are simply one of the coolest things on earth--discovering them is just marvelous! Makes you all giddy inside! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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